West Ham look to be clear to take over Olympic Stadium after Orient appeal rejected

April 26 - West Ham United's proposed move to the Olympic Stadium appears to have overcome its final hurdle after Leyton Orient's application for a judicial review of the process was thrown out.

There has been no official announcement but lawyers representing other interested parties in the case are believed to have been informed that the application for judicial review has been rejected.

Orient chairman Barry Hearn may still pursue legal action against the Premier League, who he claims have not followed their own rules in allowing West Ham to move into the area, but that will not affect the decision to allow them to play at the Olympic Stadium.

The Premier League club were last month chosen as the main tenant for the stadium once £160 million ($260 million/€200 million) has been spent converting it into a venue suitable for both football and athletics.

League One club Orient called for a review on the grounds that the London Legacy Development Corporation - the company in charge of the process - had breached its own rules by failing to fully explore the possibility of a groundshare.

Barry Hearn may be ready to walk away from the fight over the Olympic Stadium after spending £300,000 on legal bills

Hearn has spent more than £300,000 ($472,000/€350,000) pursuing his legal challenge over the Stadium but promised to walk away if he lost this round.

Orient and Tottenham Hotspur had successfully sought a judicial review of the initial process which awarded West Ham the Stadium early in 2011.

Delays caused by that challenge contributed to the decision, taken in October 2011, to keep the Stadium in public ownership and instead install a tenant.

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About the author

Duncan Mackay is the editor of insidethegames.biz. Awards include British Sports Writer of the Year in 2004, British News Story of the Year in 2004 and British Sports Internet Reporter of the Year in 2009. Mackay is one of Britain's best-connected journalists and during the 16 years he worked at The Guardian and The Observer he regularly broke a number of major exclusive stories, including the news that British sprinter Dwain Chambers had tested positive for banned performance enhancing drugs.

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Fact of the day

Hulking Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren is best known to movie fans for his role in the film Rocky IV in 1985. For the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta he was selected by the United States Olympic Committee as the team leader of the American modern pentathlon team. Though he attended the Games and marched with the US delegation in the Opening Ceremony, his role was largely honorary. It was bestowed on Lundgren as a result of the time he spent training with the team in preparation for his role in the film Pentathlon, where he starred as an East German Olympic gold medalist on the run from an abusive coach played by David Soul. As a result of the time he spent with the team, Lundgren became a major supporter of the campaign to keep modern pentathlon on the Olympic programme.

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